History Music / ManicStreetPreachers

The Manic Street Preachers are a UsefulNotes/{{W|ales}}elsh AlternativeRock band consisting of guitarist/vocalist James Dean Bradfield, bassist Nicky Wire and drummer Sean Moore. A fourth member, guitarist/songwriter Richey James Edwards, disappeared in 1995, and is believed to have committed suicide.

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Richey Edwards, arguably.
* DeadpanSnarker: Each member of the band, with Nicky being the snarkiest and Sean being the most deadpan. For example, when the band were collectively asked what they had learned from making a solo album in an interview, Sean Moore dryly quipped "Not to do one".

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: James Dean Bradfield is choleric, Nicky Wire is sanguine, Richey Edwards was melancholic, and Sean Moore is phlegmatic.

* ImportantHaircut: Richey shaved off his long flippy hair a week or two before his disappearance, telling an interviewer for a magazine that it had been bothering him when he was trying to sleep the night before.

* LegallyDead: Richey Edwards. Many already thought he was dead for years before the 2008 declaration, but the band members always held out hope he was still alive somewhere and kept a bank account open with his share of their royalties in it.

* NeverFoundTheBody: Richey Edwards. What exactly happened is unknown, but it's generally agreed that the likelihood of him still being alive is astronomically small.

* TheQuietOne: Sean Moore, though not as bad as most examples. Ironically, out of the band he's the most active on social media, particularly Twitter.

* SeriousBusiness / SelfHarm: when music journalist/BBC Radio 1 host Steve Lamacq questioned their authenticity, Richey famously carved "4 REAL" into his own forearm with a razor blade. Richey had a history of self-harm before and after the incident.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Their first 3 albums sat comfortably in the 3-5 range, with a few songs from their debut album reaching a 6. Since then they've released things from between 1-5 on the scale, but never harder than that. ''Everything Must Go'' and ''This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours'' sit at a 3 on the scale. The limited-edition single ''The Masses Against the Classes'' is a definite 5. Their "softest" albums to date, ''Lifeblood'' and ''Rewind The Film'', probably sit at a 2. ''Futurology'' is a 3 or a 4.
** "Bag Lady" and "Patrick Bateman" (hidden track on "Journal For Plague Lovers" and B-side to the "La Tristesse Durera" single respectively) can arguably reside at a 6 on the scale at their heaviest parts.

* NothingButSkinAndBones: ''4st 7lb''.

* {{Mondegreen}}: From "Removables": "A bronze moth dies easily" becomes "I bronze my thighs easily".
** From "Little Baby Nothing": It's possible to mishear "your beauty and virginity used like toys" as "your ''booty'' and virginity used like toys"...

Tragically, the band's rhythm guitarist, lyricist and spokesman Richey James Edwards vanished in 1995, possibly over the side of the Severn Bridge, after a long history of depression and self harm. He was declared [[LegallyDead presumed deceased]] in 2008. His disappearance occurred less than a year after the release of the controversial but critically acclaimed release, ''The Holy Bible'', a noisy collection of tracks dealing with topics such as prostitution, the Holocaust and eating disorders.

The band was founded in 1986 as a [[Music/TheClash Clash]]-influenced PunkRock outfit, but quickly moved in a more PostPunk direction before releasing their first EP, ''New Art Riot'', in 1990. Their debut album, ''Generation Terrorists'', was released in 1992 and sported a more mainstream, Music/GunsNRoses-influenced sound. In this period the band tried to attract more attention by going to the press and bashing a ton of their contemporaries, especially {{Shoegazing}} bands like Music/MyBloodyValentine and Music/{{Slowdive}} (who they called "[[GodwinsLaw worse than Hitler]]") and Madchester bands like the Music/HappyMondays and The Charlatans. This backfired on them badly and got them massive HypeBacklash and criticism that only worsened when Wire infamously declared during a Christmas concert the same year "In this season of goodwill, let’s pray that [[Music/{{REM}} Michael Stipe]] [[WhatTheHellHero goes the same way as]] [[Music/{{Queen}} Freddie Mercury]] [[DudeNotFunny pretty soon]].", but they managed to stay above the water with their DarkerAndEdgier {{Grunge}} album ''Gold Against the Soul''.

* [[TitleDrop Band Name Drop]]: Done in "Archives Of Pain" at the end of the second chorus, shouted alongside a list of notorious serial killers. The last name is meant to be Milosovic, but is changed to 'Manic Street Preachers'.

->"I wanted to rub the human face in its own vomit and force it to look in the mirror."
--> - JG Ballard, as sampled in "Mausoleum"

* GlamRock: ''Generation Terrorists''.

** "Know Your Enemy" (album) - from Sun Tzu's Literature/TheArtOfWar Chapter III, 'Act of Strategem'

* {{Bowdlerize}}: In single version of "Roses in the Hospital", the line "We don't want your fucking love." was replaced by TitleDrop.

** "4st 7lbs" ends ends with the narrator [[spoiler:surrendering themselves to anorexia nervosa and is strongly implied to die.]]
** ''The Holy Bible'' itself ends on a downer - after a song about UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, it then suggests that the sum total of all human achievement and culture is eventually going to be destroyed by sanctimonious MoralGuardians, to the point that nobody will remember [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]], such is how mistrustful humans have become of each other, that we've come to see this as a normal part of living.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: The anniversary editions of ''The Holy Bible'', ''Everything Must Go'' and ''Send Away The Tigers''.
** Also the book edition of ''Journal for Plague Lovers'' - the album, a CD of demos and alternate takes, and a book containing photos of the original lyrics and signed by all three remaining band members.
** The special edition of Greatest Hits collection ''Forever Delayed'' (2002) had a bonus CD of remixes.
** The limited edition of single collection ''National Treasures'' (2011) has a DVD with music videos for all 38 of the Manics' singles up till then, and a book containing photos of the band, mostly Richey-era.
** The limited edition box set reissue of ''Generation Terrorists'' which notably included an extra disc of previously unreleased demos. It was in such high demand that it sold out, and people were paying large amounts of money for it on ebay. The band have thought about getting another pressing done.

* ManOnFire: Several, in the video for "The Everlasting". An edited version without the fire had to be released due to death of Michael Menson, who was burned by three men in a street attack around the time the single was released.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Their first 3 albums sat comfortably in the 3-5 range, with a few songs from their debut album reaching a 6. Since then they've released things from between 1-5 on the scale, but never harder than that. ''Everything Must Go'' and ''This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours'' sit at a 3 on the scale. The limited-edition single ''The Masses Against the Classes'' is a definite 5. Their "softest" albums to date, ''Lifeblood'' and ''Rewind The Film'', probably sit at a 2. Their latest album ''Futurology'' is a 3 or a 4.

** One could argue their entire early career was just one after another of these. ''Generation Terrorists'' is GlamRock, ''Gold Against the Soul'' is {{Grunge}}, ''The Holy Bible'' is PostPunk, ''Everything Must Go'' and ''This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours'' is {{Britpop}}. There was also the more experimental lo-fi album ''Know Your Enemy''. In recent years the Manics seem to have settled more comfortably into the realms of AlternativeRock, but their early work is certainly turbulent listening - at times you're not even sure it's the same band you're listening to!

* TitleTrack: On ''Gold Against the Soul'', ''Everything Must Go'', and every studio album so far since ''Send Away the Tigers'' onwards.

** ''The Holy Bible'' itself ends on a downer - after a song about UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, it then suggests that the sum total of all human achievement and culture is eventually going to be destroyed by sanctimonious MoralGuardians, to the point that nobody will remember {{Shakespeare}}, such is how mistrustful humans have become of each other, that we've come to see this as a normal part of living.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Their first 3 albums sat comfortably in the 3-5 range. Since then they've released things from between 1-5 on the scale, but never harder than that. ''Everything Must Go'' and ''This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours'' sit at a 3 on the scale. The limited-edition single ''The Masses Against the Classes'' is a definite 5. Their "softest" albums to date, ''Lifeblood'' and ''Rewind The Film'', probably sit at a 2. Their latest album ''Futurology'' is a 3 or a 4.

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: James Dean Bradfield is choleric, Nicky Wire is sanguine, Richey Edwards is melancholic, and Sean Moore is phlegmatic.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Their first 3 albums sat comfortably in the 3-5 range. Since then they've released things from between 1-5 on the scale, but never harder than that. ''Everything Must Go'' and ''This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours'' sit at a 3 on the scale. The limited-edition single ''The Masses Against the Classes'' is a definite 5. Their "softest" album to date, ''Lifeblood'', probably sits at a 2. Their latest album ''Futurology'' is a 3 or a 4.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: The anniversary editions of ''The Holy Bible'' and ''Everything Must Go''.

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''The Holy Bible'' and, to a lesser extent, ''Journal For Plague Lovers''.

* [[TitleDrop Band Name Drop]]: Possibly done in "Archives Of Pain" at the end of the second chorus, shouted alongside a list of notorious serial killers. The last name is meant to be Milosovic, but sounds more like 'Manic Street Preachers'.

** The limited edition box set reissue of Generation Terrorists which notably included an extra disc of previously unreleased demos. It was in such high demand that it sold out, and people were paying large amounts of money for it on ebay. The band have thought about getting another pressing done.

* {{Sampling}}: Used extensively, and everyone from PublicEnemy to J.G. Ballard.
* SeriousBusiness / SelfHarm: when music journalist/BBC Radio 1 host Steve Lamacq questioned their authenticity, Richey famously carved "4 REAL" into his own forearm with a razor blade. Richey had a history of self-harm both before and after the incident.
* ShoutOut: Numerous examples, such as Music/PinkFloyd or Music/TheWho in "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" and Music/MarilynManson in "There by the Grace of God".

* ShoutOut: Numerous examples, such as Music/PinkFloyd or Music/TheWho in "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" and MarilynManson in "There by the Grace of God".
** [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f1/Cvr_suicidealleythumb.jpg The cover of their first release]] immediately [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/9a/The_Clash_UK.jpg/220px-The_Clash_UK.jpg betrays]] their [[TheClash Clash]]-esque beginnings. There's also another to The Clash in "Roses in the Hospital".
* SillyRabbitRomanceIsForKids: "Life Becoming a Landslide" features the pre-chorus "My idea of love comes from a childhood glimpse of pornogrpahy/though there is no true love, just a finely-tuned jealousy". This also seems to have been the view that Richey, who wrote the lyric, held.